My Tv Recorder Has Stopped Working

[Bert45]

My Sony Hard Disk Recorder SVR-HDT500 is 5 years old. When it was switched on, a horizontal white line used to 'blink' for several seconds before becoming a steady white line and transmiting a programme to the TV. Now the white line keeps on blinking and nothing shows on the TV. I accept that I need to buy a new TV recorder, but is there any way I can get the programmes I have recorded off the hard disk and view them? I am not technically very competent, but my son-in-law is quite computer literate.

[johnk]

Have you tried switching off at the mains plug and leaving it for a while and then on again. This sorted mine out when it went spurious but I did lose all my recordings.

[waterboatman]

Don't switch off at the mains. Switch the recorder itself off, wait about a minute and switch it on again.

[bhg481]

It might be that the tuner in the recorder has broken - have you tried pushing the button on the remote control which brings up he list of recorded programmes?
ave you tried connecting the recorder to a different input socket on your TV?
If all fails and you do buy a new one, let your son-in-law open up the old one and take out the disc - if he's computer literate he should be able to connect it to his computer and see what's on it. Even if he can't play anything on it he might be able to re-format the disc and use it as extra storage/backup for his own computer (or yours).

[Bert45]

Thank you, all three of you. The first time it went wrong I did what you suggested (not based on any advice or logic, but the old IT Crowd cliché: Have you tried turning it off and on again?). It worked that one time. The next time it was turned off (which happens when I turn the TV off) it would not turn on again, and all attempts at turning it off and on again have not succeeded in returning it to 'life'. As the recorder does not transmit anything to the TV, I cannot bring up the list of recorded programmes. When it is turned off, by disconnecting from the mains, then turned on, the on/off switch on the recorder does not appear to operate. I say 'appear', because when it was working, if you switched off with the on/off button, the white line blinked several times before disappearing altogether. So when you try to switch it off with the button, the white line just keeps blinking, blinking, blinking.

[Tuvok]

https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/home-cinema-projectors-players/i-have-a-sony-svr-hdt500-that-all-of-sudden-will-not-switch-on/td-p/1282146

[bhg481]

Reading Tuvok's useful link it looks like the best you can do is to buy a new one and let your son-in-law play with the disc from your old one on his computer.